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Grade 5 Social Studies · World 6: The War Turns Cold · Level 63
The Korean War
Explain the war with a map.
Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.
What children learn in Level 63
- After World War II, Korea was split in two at the line of latitude called the 38th parallel. North Korea became communist, with Soviet help. South Korea became an American ally.
- In June 1950, North Korea's army invaded the South. Here was the very thing American leaders feared: communism spreading by force.
- The United Nations voted to help South Korea, and American troops led the way. They pushed north, almost to China. Then China sent huge armies, and pushed them back.
- The war became a long, bloody stalemate near where it began. In 1953, a truce stopped the fighting. Korea is still divided today. More than 33,000 Americans, and millions of Koreans and Chinese, died in the war.
- One thing changed for good. Truman's order took hold, and Black and white soldiers served side by side in Korea. Veterans sometimes call this the forgotten war, but they haven't forgotten it.
Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:
- SS5H5.b — Explain how the United States sought to stop the spread of communism through the Berlin airlift, the Korean War, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.